Rhodia Fan Profile: Stephen Brown

My name is Stephen Brown; I am a cognitive scientist with a PhD in cognitive psychology. Although I now live in Canada, I was born and raised in The Netherlands, and I learned how to write with a pencil, but then quickly moved on to a school-supplied fountain pen – that sparked an interest that has always stayed with me. I started to review fountain pens on YouTube in January 2011, after having used fountain pens for year. This hobby led me to start a website, www.sbrebrown.com, and my YouTube channel currently has over 37,000 subscribers.

How and when did you first discover Rhodia products?

I discovered Rhodia products in 2011, when I saw the products advertised on YouTube. I appreciate Rhodia products for a number of reasons: they’re affordable, the paper is of high quality and it is fountain pen friendly.

Which are your favorite Rhodia products?

For my fountain pen reviews, I use a spiral-bound A5 notebook. Rhodia paper is widely accessible and fountain pen friendly, so many of my viewers have access to that type of paper and they are able to relate to the paper’s feel, which is important for their understanding and appreciation of a given pen’s performance. I also really like the A4-sized notepads, which I use in a leather writing folio made by a Dutch company called Berba: those two are a perfect match.

Do you use your Rhodia products for work? Personal use? Both?

I use my Rhodia paper for everything, both professionally and personally. I appreciate the different ruling options: lined, graph, dot… There is a type of ruling for every application. For my reviews, I like grid paper, because the 5×5 mm grids make it relatively easy to judge a fountain pen’s nib width. For everyday writing, I like lined paper.

Pencil, pen, or other? Favorites?

For me, a fountain pen is always the weapon of choice. I like broader nibs that lay down a lot of ink, and Rhodia paper typically holds up well even to very wet nibs, so that’s great.

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Rhodia Drive is a corporate blog sponsored by Clairefontaine-Rhodia, the maker of Rhodia products. It’s a blog about the iconic orange notepads and the people who use them. Never write in a dull notebook again!